If Not 4 The Blogosphere

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hella, Black Hella Queer, Hello Christian is a production of
iHeart podcast on the Outspoken Network, which seeks to amplify
LGBTQ voices in podcasting. Show me how good is going
to get today? God, dear Universe, you have permission to
amaze me. I am a beautiful and blessed being who

(00:24):
deserves great things always. I love my life and I
am thankful for my life. I am safe and I
have everything I need. Something amazing is going to happen
to me today. Show me how good is going to
get today. God, dear Universe, you have permission to amaze

(00:47):
me today. I am a beautiful and blessed being who
have everything I need. Something amazing is going to happen
to me today. Show me how good is going to

(01:08):
get today. God, dear Universe, you have permission to amaze
me today. I am a beautiful and blessed being who
have everything I need. Something amazing is happening for me today.

(01:33):
Show me how good is going to get today. God,
dear Universe, you have permission to amaze me today. I
am a beautiful and blessed being who deserves great things always.
I love my life and I am thankful for my life.
Something amazing is going to happen for me today. Well,

(02:10):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Hella Black Hell
of Queer. Hello Christian, a fully black, fully queer, fully human,
fully divine podcast around society, culture, and other fresh fried
nigga shit I feel like talking about with my dope
ass friends. I am your host, your friend, your good

(02:31):
Judy Joseph Freese pronounced are they them? And I am
so glad, I'm so honored, I'm so thankful that you
would join us for another episode and starting off with
the church announcements, I am going to start off with
a listener letter. This listener's letter comes from Jules Diamond

(02:53):
formerly known as Julian Woodhouse, and they reached out to
me with some very kind words that I greatly appreciate
it that I want to share with you all. Julian says, Hi, Joseph,
I'm listening it to your first episode. A friend of
mine sent it to me this morning. I just want
you to know that the space show cultivating is such

(03:13):
a blessing and so necessary. Jesus is the light of
my life, so when I see a space for people
like us, I love it. Also, Michael Jackson was also
my most impathful celebt death, and also Kobe Bryant apparently
he was a cousin on my mom's side. Anyway, I
pray God up lists you and keeps you keep going.

(03:35):
And Julian, I want to thank you so much for
taking the time to reach out to share that with
me so that I could share that with the congregation.
Jesus is the light of my life too, so I
understand and I get it, and once again, just thank
you for the love and thank you for the support.
I also want my listeners to know if you also
have some words of encouragement, if you also have some

(03:57):
praise reports around what the show means to you, also
some praise reports in regards to your personal life, you
can feel free to reach out to me at Joseph
Rees at iHeartMedia dot com, and then you can also
find me on Instagram or you could also find me
on x Now his mama named him Twitter, but since

(04:18):
we hear on iHeart. We're gonna call him X to
make sure that we don't get into legal trouble. But
you can find me on Instagram, or you can find
me on X at Joseph they them, So that's gonna
be the at sign j O s E p h
t h E y t h E M. Or you
can send me an email at Joseph Reeves at iHeartMedia

(04:41):
dot com.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
So that's gonna be.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
J O s E p h R E A v
E s at iHeartMedia dot com. I wanted to start
off on a positive note because some of these other
church announcements that they're gonna be a little heavy, y'all,
because we're in a heavy time right And as Shirley
Caesar said back in two thousand and three for Aunt

(05:04):
Sally during the Fighting Temptations, the church is indeed in mourning,
and there's some people we need to celebrate their life
and we need to remember. Last Thursday for us would
be July the third, the day before fourth of July.
Was very heartbroken and was very sad and was very
shocked to hear the death of mister Cali Robert Franklin,

(05:28):
known to the world as mister Cali, mister Calli was
an adult entertainer. He was an actor, he was a
singer and a songwriter, he was a fitness model, and really,
through his persona as mister Calli, he really was a

(05:49):
trailblazer and a groundbreaker, and he was a part of
the bridge that really kind of brought black gay adult entertainment,
black gay pornography from kind of like the eighties and
the nineties into the two thousands and into the early

(06:10):
aughts into kind of like the black gay adult content
that you see today. And for me personally, when I
think about Cali, he wasn't adult entertainer. He was a
porn star, but he wasn't afraid to be seen in
community as a black gay man who was a member
of the community. He always made himself accessible. He was

(06:34):
always kind, he was always cordial, and he was just
very cognizant of who he was as a public persona.
And then he passed away. He was in his mid
to late forties, he was not yet fifty. And then
that also brought up for me kind of how particularly
as like black gay, bisexual queer men even kind of

(06:59):
like in this stage of the game, we're losing too
many of us too young, and we're losing too many
of us too soon. So Cali, while you were here,
you brought us pleasure, You brought us joy, You brought
us fantasy, you brought us desire. While there are some,

(07:20):
through stigma and discrimination and bias and prejudice that would
not be able to honor the work that you do
or that you did, we here at Hella Black, Hello, queer,
Hello Christian, we honor the work that you did. And
then on Saturday, so we're talking July the fifth, the
day after the fourth of July, iconic Chicago gospel artists

(07:45):
and music director, mother Loudella Evans Reed went home to
be with the Lord at the age of ninety four.
She was on her way to turning ninety five. So
the iconic Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, which is an iconic
Black church within Chicago, under lead the leadership of her

(08:07):
brother Clay Evans, just really shaped what we know to
be Black gospel music. And they were actually getting ready
to do a ninety fifth birthday celebration for her, and
then they came on that Saturday morning and then they said,
due to mother evans Reads health concerns at this stage
of her life, we're going to have to cancel the program.

(08:28):
And then that Saturday evening it was posted that she
had packed up a tent, she had gone on from
labor to reward. And then on Monday, So yesterday Mama
Mosey Birks of the Mississippi Mask Choir, iconic lead singer
for the Mississippi Mask Choir. She sang songs like when

(08:49):
I Rose this morning they got the word, and then
of course we knew Mama Mosey because before the song
could even start, her head was already shaken and she
was already to go, and she too packed up her
tent and went from labor to reward. And then today,
so y'all will hear this a little bit later, but
tonight we're recording. On Tuesday, July the eighth, twenty twenty five,

(09:13):
and this morning I woke to the news that Jewel
Taeus Williams also passed away. She was I believe around
eighty five or eighty six, Mss Williams. She was an
iconic black lesbian activist, community organizer, club promoter, and she

(09:33):
was really known for founding Jewels Catch One in nineteen
seventy three within the Los Angeles community. And then Jewels
Catch One. It was like this iconic black gay disco,
and she founded it in nineteen seventy three and she
ran it for forty two years up until it's closing
in twenty fifteen. From I Noah's archeads, y'all have heard

(09:56):
of Jewels Catch One. It was just an iconic gathering
spe for black LGPTQ people. And she too is now
resting in peace. And we just rish that not only
that she rest in peace, but resting joy, resting luxury,
rest in abundance, resting overflow, and resting pleasure for all

(10:18):
that you gave for us. So we do give resting
peace announcements for those individuals. And then, of course, just
my heart has been troubled by this Ariana Smith case,
and for those that are not familiar with it, I'm
just going to give a little blurb a couple of

(10:39):
paragraphs around that Arianna Smith case. So, Arianna Smith, a
thirty year old black woman who worked as a nurse
and lived in Atlanta, Georgia, was seen at north Side
Hospital in February twenty twenty five after experiencing headaches. She
was nine weeks pregnant at the time. After Smith was

(10:59):
given medication, she was released from the hospital in the morning.
Her boyfriend called nine one one after he woke up
to Smith's gasps for air. After being taken to Emory
University Hospital, she was declared brain dead after blood clots
were found in her brain. In mid May, Smith's mother,

(11:20):
April Newkirk, disclosed to local news organizations that Smith's body
had been on life support for three months to let
defeat us grow enough to be delivered, without giving the
family a say in the matter. Newkirk said that she
was told that the hospital's decision to keep Smith alive
was required under Georgie's anti abortion law because of the

(11:43):
detection of feto cardiac activity. The situation subsequently attracted the
attention of national and international news media, and was further
publicized by groups supporting and opposing abortion rights, some of
which began to fundraise for the family. Details on how
the fetus was being allowed to develop were not publicized

(12:05):
by the hospital. The Atlanta Joeneral Constitution reported that life
support could have been ended by early August at the earliest,
at which point doctors will perform a cesarean section on
Smith's body. Newkirk started a go fund me online fundraiser
for the medical course with a two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars gold It had raised one hundred and five

(12:27):
thousand dollars by mid May, a week after its creation.
On June fifteenth, Smith's family commemorated her thirty first birthday
at a somber private church service for abortion rights groups.
Two days later, the family announced the premature birth of
her baby's son, named Chance, who weighed one pound thirteen

(12:47):
ounces through an emergency cesareans section earlier that week. Since
Chance was born at just about six months of gestation,
his birth is classified by the World Health Organization as
extremely preturned. Four days later, his mother, Adrianne Smith, was
taking off life support. A funeral was held later that month.

(13:10):
And for me, when I heard this story, I thought
about the various ways that black women have been used
as lab rats for this country's medical system, and also
in this political moment, where are the pro life groups?

(13:30):
Where are the pro life groups to raise funds for
her funeral? Where are the pro life groups to take
care of the medical bills? To where Adriana was kept
on life support despite her consent and despite the consent
of her family. Where are the pro life groups that

(13:52):
will start a trust fund for this baby that has
now been born into the world without his mother? Where
y'all lie, y'all the same place y'all always are. You'll
pick it, and you'll rabble, rouse, and you'll yell for

(14:16):
these babies to be brought to term. But once they
are brought to term, you don't give a shit about them. Adriana,
I am so sorry for the way that heinous systems
in this world held you in limbo. I'm so sorry

(14:41):
that you had to depart this world in such a
strenuous way. But now that you've been released, rest easy.
You may not be a mother, be able to be
a mother to your son in the physical realm, you
can be a mother as guardian angel, as ancestor on

(15:05):
that great plane that exists beyond us. Cali, once again,
thank you so much for what you gave us. May
you rest easy. Mother Evans Read, thank you so much
for what you gave us. May you rest easy. Mama Birks,
thank you so much for what you gave us. May
you rest easy, and all of you will continue to

(15:28):
live on, and all of you will continue to be
eternal through the art and the content that you gave
us Men and Ashay. So they've been very patient because

(16:06):
they let me get on my soapbox this week. But
we do have a guest. So I want my guests
to come in. Introduce yourselves because I believe that people
can introduce themselves better than I can ever introduce them
with a formal bio, and just let the people know
who you are, share your pronows, all that good stuff.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Hello, Hello, family, Joseph, thank you so much for having me.
I am Darien Aaron. Many people probably know me as
a journalist. That is what I do for a living.
I'm currently the director of Local News US South at GLAD.
I've been in that role for the past two and
a half years. I develop original content about LGBTQ people,

(16:45):
people of coloring, people living with HIV in the South.
But before I operated in that capacity, I was a blogger.
I wrote for Click Magazine, which I'm kind of aging
myself at this point. Many people probably don't remember clickmac magazine.
Oh but I remember you remember. I know you do.
I was a staff writer for Click magazine. Let's see

(17:08):
just fast forward. Currently, one of my big initiatives at
GLAD is a media event that I founded last year
called Glad Down South, where we bring together community activists, leaders,
social media influencers, content creators, and journalists in the Atlanta
area to really witness the growing quantity and quality of

(17:28):
the work that we're producing at GLAD, specifically here in
the South.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
We're not going to gloss over your origin. We're not
going to gloss over loldariendt blogspot dot com. Because for me,
in my first years of college, so we're talking about
two thousand and four, two thousand and five, during my

(17:53):
I at the time, I called it my afrocentric, neo
hip hop soul era, but really I was running a
being like this young black, gay homisexual. Your blog was
really a guide post and a staple for me, and
it was like my black gay CNN that I would

(18:16):
tune into. And I remember kind of like the second
semester of my second year at my first college, I
published a work somewhere and I might have even sent
it to you, and then you featured it on your
blog and I was just so honored and I was just,
oh my god, lol, Darien just just lifting me up.

(18:39):
I said it in the invite and I'll say it
again on this and as this episode, you were a
part of a vanguard that really carried us out of
the nineties into where we are today. So I just
really wanted to give you your props in your respects

(19:01):
in regards to that and even in this moment, for
you to be willing to take time to be on
this podcast for me as an emerging black queer creative,
you really are carrying on the legacy of like Mary
Church Terrell when we spend she talked about lifting as
you climb, because you know, you taking the time out

(19:24):
to be here with me is really you. I take
it as you lifting me up as you climb, and
I don't take it lightly. And I definitely don't take
it lightly. Because Darien is coming back from essence Fest,
and who are the folks been click clacking about essence
Fest twenty twenty five. A lot of folks that had

(19:44):
a lot of stuff to say. Some of it has
been valid and some of it I've just had to
look at it and be like, how they bless your
precious and wonderful heart. So before I give kind of
like my take, Darien, I would just like to know
you know as much as you want to share what

(20:05):
was your experience this year's Essence frest because it was
your first, right.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
It was my first year, And I want to preface
what I'm about to say by saying that this was
my first time experiencing the Essence Festival in New Orleans.
Every year I would tell myself that this would be
the year that I would go, and it didn't happen.
And so this year, my husband and I decided at
the last minute that we were actually going to drive
down to New Orleans. And I'm not a fan of

(20:31):
road trip, so that's how bad I wanted to go.
For me to get in a car and drive the
seven hours from Atlanta to New Orleans to Essence. I'd
heard a lot of great things about the festival going
into it. I heard that it's a vibe, it's like
one big family reunion, like you will not meet a stranger,
like people will come up to you and hug you,
just embrace you on the street, and so I was

(20:53):
kind of expecting that and it was the exact opposite.
And from what I've been told, attendance was down this year.
My husband has been many times in the past, and
he said, walking through the convention Center. You know, you
were like shoulder to shoulder with people. It was so
many people in the convention Center, and that was not
my experience this year. So I know people are saying

(21:15):
a lot of negative things about the festival this year,
in terms of festival leadership, in terms of the concert lineup.
I didn't go to any of the concerts. I just
wasn't interested in seeing many of the artists that were performing.
I think I missed my opportunity to go to the
concert When Janet headlined twice in previous years, that would

(21:37):
have been a draw for me. I mean, I can
see many of the artists that were there this year.
I would much rather see when they were on tour
coming through Atlanta. Like, I wasn't just going to pay
to see some people I won't name because I don't
want to offend anyone, but artists that I love, but
I just wasn't interested in seeing them. In essence, I'm
glad I had the experience, but I don't think I'll

(22:00):
be going again. You know, it was on my bucket list.
It was something that I really wanted to experience, and
I got there and I was somewhat disappointed with the
lineup with the offerings from day to day, and the
heat was unbearable. And I'm a son of the South,
you know, born and raised in Alabama, so I know
what it feels like to experience othern heat in the summer.

(22:23):
But it was on another level in New Orleans. So
for that reason alone, I won't be returning. But I'm
glad I got the experience.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Okay, excellent. So I know. For me, I am thirty
nine as of this recording, I'm twelve days for my
fortieth birthday. What I heard was a lot of commentary
around Essence not do Essence Fest not doing enough to

(22:51):
reach out to younger audiences.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's interesting because Essence is always skewed older. So they
changed the moth.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
But see that's where I'm going. And then for me,
as like an elder millennial, within the past couple of years,
I've almost felt like they've tried to chase the younger
audience too much, and I almost feel like it's not
as into generational as it used to be. Right, And

(23:21):
like you, I've never been to Essence Fest. I always
say I'm gonna go, but it just never happens. So
I'm hoping that come twenty twenty six, Lord Willing and
the Creek don't rise. I wasn't able to make essence
Fest twenty twenty five. It's like the last essence Fest
of my thirties. But I do want to make Essence Fresh.
Twenty twenty six is like the first essence Fest of

(23:41):
my forties. So I say that to say this for
the younger right, And it's crazy to be at the
stage in my life where I have to say this,
But it's kind of like everything does not need to
be for young people that part. There are some of
us who are thirty five and up and we still

(24:02):
need shit to do. So like so like that young
crowd y'all got Roots picnic in Philadelphia, you have Brocoli
City here in DC. You have one music fest in Atlanta.
Essence Fest is for the aunties and the aunts, yep,
And you just need to let it be that.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
I could not agree with you more.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
And then I do also feel like a lot of
people have been putting out this anti New Orleans rhetoric
to where you have. I've seen a lot of people
saying that Essence Fest needs to leave New Orleans. And
I'm saying as as someone who has never been. But
I'm just kind of like gleaning from the wisdom that

(24:47):
I've heard from people that have been. Essence Fest is
New Orleans, and New Orleans is essence Fest. And just
like Ruth's Picnic is rooted in Philadelphia, One Music Fest
is rooted in Atlanta, Brocoli City is rooted in DC,
Essence Fest can clearly continue to be rooted in New

(25:08):
Orleans like it has been for the past thirty years, right.
And also a lot of folks are saying, a lot
of like the veterans of Essence Fest are saying, essence
Fest can't happen in another city the way it can
happen in New Orleans, because they're say like New Orleans
is a walkable city in the way that a lot

(25:28):
of other destinations are not. And then I heard someone
even say like, oh, they should do an essence Fest
in Ghana, and I'm like, and let me be very clear,
I would have not been to the Mother Continent. Would
love to be able to trace my lineags so I
can make an intentional trip to the continent. But also,

(25:50):
essence Fest is a uniquely Black American experience, and it's
uniquely a Black American experience rooted in the black American
south right. And also my concern kind of like with
this anti Nola rhetoric is that you have like these
young buppies and like you have like these young blavity
blacks that want to turn essence Fest into like this

(26:12):
multi city excursion that will alienate most of essence Fest,
like core client tele because they're not going to be
able to afford to go to some of these places
that people are suggesting.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
I'm still tripping on whoever suggested that it should be
in Ghana when the majority of Americans don't even have
a passport, and it would be incredibly expensive for folks
to take a trip out of the country, especially.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Especially considering when essence Fest is just supposed to be
for July fourth weekend. By the time people land in Ghana,
it would be times and the end to turn around
and go home. And and also in this political climate
where we're hearing conversations around people taking international travel and
then when they come back into the States, their social

(27:00):
media is being investigated.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, you are living in Trump's America right now. That
is a real fear.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
And so then like it's also that right, but I
do think that this essence Fest.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Moment is really.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
A microcosm around how I have seen essence Fest. Essence
as a platform kind of lose the point of the plot,
especially when you look at their social media. Essence Fest
now exists in a market to where they are oversaturated,

(27:39):
where we're oversaturated with music festivals. Right, instead of holding
onto their distinct flavor, they're trying to become light Woom's Picnic.
They're trying to become like Broccoli City. They're trying to
become like one music fest. And then even with that
main magazine, if you look at their social media instead
of like holding on to like their distinct seasoning, is

(28:02):
almost like they're trying to be the shade room. They're
trying to be bossiped and and it's kind and there,
at least from their social media, like they're trying to
be like these like mainstream platforms. Because Okay, I logged
onto I looked on essences ig feed around last week
and like they were like reporting about Anna Wintor stepping

(28:25):
down from Vogue, and I'm like.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Why are you, as Essence reporting about that just to
report it and not putting it through a black Woman's lens.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, I was just getting ready to say that. You know,
folks have lauged some very valid criticism at Essence Leadership,
and I just hope that they're listening, because I would
hate to see this mainstay in our community, in the
black community, disappear or people not be as invested as
they once were, because attendance was definitely down this year

(29:00):
compared to previous year. I just really hope that even
Sephanie Mills wrote an open letter that's being circulated all
around the internet right now, and I just really hope
that they take the criticism to heart and they apply
it next year and they make so much need to
change it.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, I hope so too, So child. We ain't even
got to the benediction yet. This was just the introduction,
but just give us a couple of moments and we
will be back with the meat of this conversation. Okay, family,

(29:43):
we are back here at Hella Black. Hello, Quia Hella Christian.
I am Joseph Frees, your host, and once again we
are here with Darien Aaron. It has already been a
rich conversation, but now I want to get into the
main meat of this episode and the name of this
episode is called if not for the blocker Sphere, and
really one of the reasons and I kind of even

(30:04):
got into it with my introduction of Darien, is because
for me, in this inaugural season of Hello Black, Hello Queer,
Hello Christian, Yes, we're doing all these great topics, but
I know that there are some people and some eerrarors
and some decades that I need to make sure that

(30:25):
I give my flowers to this season as a black
queer creative, as a Black queer podcaster, And for me,
I just know I needed to give flowers to kind
of like the era that I came into my own
in regard to my own homosexuality, in regard to my
own queerness as someone who started out identifying as a

(30:47):
black gay man and now identifies as a black queer
person of non binary expression. Because we're seeing all these
wonderful black gay podcasts, We're seeing all of these wonderful
black gay creators, right, and black gay folks are being
able to exist on like these mainstream platforms. It's like
media correspondence in ways that we have not seen before.

(31:11):
And really, for me, it harkens back to like this
early two thousands movement of black gay bloggers who were independent,
who will roll, who were very you know, beat to
the street and kind of like in that context, My
first question to you, Darien, is if you had to

(31:33):
explain to maybe a young twenty to thirty something year
old black gay person, what that period of the early
two thousands with black gay bloggers meant and your role
within it, what would you think to say?

Speaker 2 (31:53):
That's a really great question. The only way I can
describe that moment in time was that it was just
absolutely incredible. You had black queer men, black gay men,
however they identified, taking up space and creating representation where
there was non There was a complete void. This was

(32:13):
before social media, and in some aspects it was before
even before Noah's Ark provided much needed representation. People were
actually logging online and reading full length blog posts. Right now,
we just wanted in ninety second video clips on TikTok
on Instagram reels, but people really devoted their time to

(32:37):
coming to my blog and other blogs, other black queer blogs.
It was myself, Rod McCullum of Rod two point zero.
Clay Caine had a site, Who's Now on sirius xm
Keith Boyken, who was a huge inspiration and still remains
a huge inspiration and a mentor in my head. So
we were all telling our stories and telling other black

(33:00):
stories and really feeling that void because we were screaming
out for representation then and now.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Couldn't say it any better. And I just remember we
had a longer attention span to where we would sit
and kind of like read. Now we would say long
form posts, but really back in those days, we looked
at them as kind of like just really short pieces, right.
And then you know, I'm also thinking, because you know,

(33:31):
we look at like polls, right, which kind of like
came along a little bit later, but a kind of
like a precursor to polls within the black game blog
is field space. I think about, like Frank Lyon Roberts
with Brooklyn Boyd bluest blogspot dot com write out here
ballroom representation, right, And how he really, you know, as
an academic, as a scholar, was not afraid to identify

(33:56):
and be close to and be open about his his
partnership and him being a member of the ballroom community
back when in the early two thousands, being associated with
ballroom was not the way to advance within the black
LGBTQ community. So Frank love you, thank you so much

(34:16):
for the justice support, and I really do pray that
you're doing well. And I mean it's a little later
because this is kind of I'm kind of venturing into
like twenty nine, twenty ten to twenty eleven during my
time at Howard, But I'm even thinking of Zim Van
Adams based out of Baltimore, kind of like what he
did with his blog and like with his YouTube space,

(34:36):
and I mean it was for all that we have now,
it almost feels like there was more of a durse
and a diversity of voices back then during that time.
I'm even thinking about DJ do Dirty out of New
York chat his gay hip hop show. I'm thinking about
Derek L. Braggs, I'm thinking about Devon and Blue Magazine.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Drop all the names. Yes, while you're taking me back,
because see, it was a time.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Honey, you're taking and we're just coming out of Prize.
So you're taking me back to a time where I
remember being in New York during the summer home from college.
And it would be first off, a lot of people
outside of New York don't know that every weekend in June.

(35:25):
Each borough has its own pride leading up to the
Manhattan Pride that everybody comes to. But during that when
you got to that that last weekend in June and
that Manhattan Pride kicked off. I remember the times where
I could come to the village from Queens on Friday

(35:49):
afternoon for the Audilord Projects trans Day of Action, and
that would be like that would kick off at like
twelve noon Friday, and there would be no reason for
me to go back home until Sunday night Monday morning.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
And you could literally just walk up and down that
strip of Christmas Street, Like you could start where the
cigar store was, and you would walk, and then you
would hit the hangar, you would walk, then you would
hit che Cheese, you would walk, and then you would
hit that adult bookstore and you would walk, and then

(36:32):
you would hit the Chinese store, the Chinese food take
out space, and then you would walk and you would
hit the peers, and then you could just walk up
and down the piers and you could start Friday and
you would not have to come home until Sunday night,

(36:52):
Monday morning. For all that, we've gained.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Some things too, because New York City is not the same.
The pier doesn't even look like it once did. You know, Wow,
you are so right. And I remember attending my very
first New York City Pride and just feeling overwhelmed in
the best way. And it was the first time I
ever attended pride. Remember I had just moved to New
York City in ninety eight from Alabama, so I was

(37:20):
fresh off the plane from the South. And so to
step off that one you snails d almost definitely, most definitely,
But to step off that one train on Christopher Street
and just see a se of queer people. I had
never seen anything like that before. And you know, coming
out at sixteen, which is the age at which I
came out, you feel so alone. You feel like you're

(37:43):
the only queer person on the planet. And then to
step off that train and see so many people with
similar lived experience, it was something I will never ever forget.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
And then so for me and going back to Noah's Ark,
So my first not just my first Black Pride, but
my first Pride was People of Coloring Crisis Pride in
the City, Okay, And I remember because I was upstate
in like the Catskills, and I remember taking a short

(38:14):
line bus from my hometown down to my sister who
was still on Long Island, And that Thursday went to
the clubhouse over in East Harlem. Friday went to the
Host Hotel in Brooklyn and saw this DVD series called

(38:38):
The Closet Maurice Towns. And then that Saturday night there
was this film for this show that was getting ready
to come out on logo called Noah's On. Yeah, and

(39:00):
and got to who did I I know, I got
to meet Jensen. I feel like I met some other
people too, but I can't remember who else. But and
particularly when Noah's Park, got to see black gay men
making love that wasn't pornography, and got to see black
gay men making love on par with what we were

(39:22):
seeing in the heterosexual landscape, which shows like soul food,
And to see black gay men making love in a
way that was beautifully shocked. M. So it's like, I
thank God for what these babies have, but y'all also
the lossome stuff too.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Absolutely, And then I was going to say, next question
is when did you first realize the power of words?
And how has your use of words empowered you as
a black gay man.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
To be honest, I think the very first time I
realize the power of the English language and how I
can utilize it for my own freedom of liberation. Was
shortly before I began my blog. My mother, who I
have a great relationship with now we're like best friends,

(40:17):
she would send me articles about praying the gay away
shortly after I came out, so our relationship was really
strained for a period of time, and one of the
articles she sent me was about Donny McClerkin and how
he had been delivered and I knew even then that
that was BS. So I sat down and I wrote

(40:37):
a letter to her, and I actually just went back
and read the letter for the first time in probably
twenty five thirty years, I don't know, and I basically
told her that I would no longer apologize for being
who I am. I would no longer apologize for being
a black we man. This is who I am, and

(40:59):
I pray that it some point we're able to repair
our relationship as mother and son and you can love
and accept me for who I am in totality as
a black queer man. And Keith actually published this letter
that I had written to my mom on his site,
and the headline simply said a letter to Mom, and

(41:20):
to see the reaction from folk, to see that my
words also liberated them and gave them of the courage
to walk in their truth. I think that was the
very first time that I knew that I had a
gift and that it wasn't enough for me to be liberated,
but I also needed to bring other black queer folks
along with me and make sure that they are able

(41:42):
to walk the path towards freedom and liberation as well.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Amen. So for me to ask that question is because
so much like you, I came out around sixteen seventeen,
and I did not come out in this city. I
did not come out in Long Island. I came out
in this upstate town in the Catskills, Ulster County. The

(42:06):
name of the town is called Ellenville, and it sounds
and whatever you're envisioning in your mind when you think
of Ellenville, that's exactly what it was. I was my
LGBTQ center. And then I talked about this on the
Reading Rainbow episode with George M. Johnson and Rashie Darden.

(42:31):
The power of words first came to me because through
the inter Library Loan system, I began to check out
the books of Elin Harris. I began to check out
the books of James o'hardy. I checked out One More
River to Cross Black Gay in America by Keith Boykin.
I checked out Brother to Brother. I checked out in

(42:53):
the Lights. Right, So for me to be sixteen seventeen,
we're talking once again, we're talking to early two thousands.
We're talking two thousand and one, two thousand and two,
two thousand and two thousand and four, so like the
height of death poetry jam. Yeah, So I was like, oh,
I'm gonna be a poet, and I called myself the
undisputed Truth and just started writing. Looking back on it now,

(43:18):
these absolutely horrible poems.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Oh, thank God for growth.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
But you know, it was just me just kind of
like just getting on my soapbox and saying whatever I
felt I needed to say. And I even performed spoken
word pieces during like my because I was a shout
out to missus Shell rahamand she is now ancestor, but
she was my mentor. She was the head of the

(43:46):
multicultural club at Ellenville at my local high school, and
we would do a Black History Month presentation and like
my sophomore year, my junior year, my senior year, I
would kind of like be like the main spoken word
piece for All Black Street Month's presentation. And I remember
my senior year doing a poem that I wrote called

(44:06):
I Love hip Hop and it don't love Me, and
one piece talked about homophobian hip hop one piece because
I mean this was right around the time that DMX
least where the hood at talking about thugs having sex
with the same sex and I show no love to

(44:26):
homo thugs. So there was like that hip hop piece.
Then there was a piece about reggae and dand swore
because once again early two thousands, so we're dealing with
Beanie Man talking about bernda Chici mine right, And then
it ended with like gospel. So even back to your
point where like Donnie McClerkin, who was kind of like
doing like this ex gay crusade on like TBN and

(44:49):
like the word network and work and time has shown
the deliverance that he thought he had and that people
wanted us to believe that he had, is literally eating
that man up alive, m.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
And I knew I didn't want that for my life.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
I had an experience with my sister who was born
again Christian pentecostal Church of God in Christ when I
started to come out, it was like, well, do you
really want to be that way? And I mean, even now,
you know, if I were to send my sister something
that was pro LGBTQ, or if I were to send

(45:31):
my sister like an episode of this podcast, it would
very much be like, Oh, I love you, I just
don't accept your lifestyle, right and even you know, kind
of like with my mother passing away, really what compounds
the grief of losing my mom has really been the
fact that, like my mother was my buffer, and my

(45:53):
mother was the one that said, hey, don't yo bring
that mess around Jojo Yo, leave Jojo alone. And with
her gone, really coming to the place where I've had
to realize that I have to love my family from
a distance. So I am that gay brother, I am
that gay uncle that don't come to Thanksgiving, that don't

(46:17):
come to Christmas, that don't come to gatherings because you're
not gonna bring that mess to me and you're not
gonna put that mess on me. So just even with
that question I just saw, I just really resonated a
lot with that.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
I knew I didn't want that life for me. I
did not want to live in a closet of my
own making. And I came out of sixteen years old.
And I always tell people I came out even before
Ellen DeGeneres said it publicly, like I had no blueprint.
I had yet to discover Essexemp Hill or Elan Harris books.
I did get the courage to come out after discovering

(46:54):
Keith Boykin's Warmer River to Cross, just Like You, And
it was a watershed, a light bulb moment for me
to be able to read a piece of literature of
someone whose life experience mirrored my own, and it gave
me the courage to really step into my truth. But
not only that, he was a successful black gay man,
so he was a possibility model of what my life

(47:17):
could look like in the future. And so yeah, I
just knew very early on that being closeted, or living
a lie or being DL was not something that I
could choose for myself. It was not the path for me,
and I didn't know what would happen by coming out
of sixteen years old. And one thing that I said
to my mom shortly after I told her, I said, well,

(47:39):
are you going to throw me out of the house now?
Because LGBTQ homelesses. Youth homelessness is an epidemic in this country,
and luckily, I have the kind of family that loves
me unconditionally. And while she did not understand in that
moment and she struggled, she said, you're my child. I
love you. I would never throw you out of the house.

(48:00):
And that's how my parents, for the most part, have
operated with me and my queerness. They were at my
wedding last year, and that's how far we've come, you know,
as a family. I never expected that. I never expected
them to embrace my ceremony, our ceremony, my husband the
way that they have. So my parents are possibility models

(48:25):
of what is possible for parents of black queer children.
So often we hear about these stories of black queer
kids being rejected by their families, but we have to
flip that narrative because that's not everybody's experience. And that's
why I always say storytelling is so important. It's so
important that we tell these stories to counter those narratives,

(48:45):
because there are black families out there who are embracing
and accepting their queer kids. We just don't hear about them.
And so that's why I take my role as a
journalist who primarily tells black queer stories so seriously because
we have to amplify those stories to counter the negative ones.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
How has been a person of faith played into your work?

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Huh, that's a loaded question. Well, I was born and
raised in the Black Baptist Church. I was even Kojik
for a little while. Luckily I escaped the Kojing church.
It was not for me, but faith has been central
to my life, just like faith in the church's central
to black life in America. Black liberation theology specifically, we

(49:31):
have figured out a way as Black people in America
to liberate ourselves through faith, through Christianity, a religion that
told us that we should be enslave, you know, slaves
obey your earthly masters. But we have figured out a
way to deconstruct that as black people of faith in America.

(49:52):
And I think the same can be said for black
queer people who are still active in the church, who
still desire to have a relationship. Notice I said relationship,
not religion. There is a difference. Black were people who
desire to have a relationship with Christ. We have to
get to a point where we have to deconstruct that
and create a black queer liberation theology. And that's the

(50:16):
path that I'm on right now and I've been on
for years. Yes, faith has played an integral part in
my life. I don't know where I would be if
I did not acknowledge a higher power, because there's been
moments in my life where I've been at my lowest
and I've had to rely on my faith to pull
me through.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Amen. And like same for me, any thought that I've
let seep into me that told me that God, that
God sees something wrong with me in regard to my
queerness is because I opened myself up to listen to
other people that I didn't need to be listening to
in the first place. And even when you bring up Koljak, Okay,

(50:55):
I'm a big clock Sisters fame as many black gay men,
but kind of like really digging into their fan base,
Clark's Sisters is synonymous with Koljak culture. I mean, their
mother was director of the International Music Department for twenty
five years. The render has been leadership of the evangelism department.

(51:21):
Karen is now the first the first Lady of the
Church of God in Christ. I mean you have Kiara
who is now the vice president of the music department.
And then you even have Jackie Clark Chishm who is
like a superintendent within the department. So when you kind
of like dig into the Klarsuss, you also do dig
into that Kolji theology. And they've gotten up in platforms

(51:44):
at some of these conventions and then said some stuff
yep about the very black gay men that have put
them in the position where they are today. That's not
too cool even kind of like with that liberation theology piece,
kind of like being exposed to the work of like
James Kohne and Jeremiah Wright and.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Old is more sactical life.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Yes, And then it's like I've kind of always known
that Jesus took homophobia to the cross. Come on, Jesus
took racism to the cross. Jesus took poverty to the cross.
So for me, I've just kind of just always known that,
you know, with the vicissitudes, with the internalized homophobia, with

(52:33):
the structures of social wickedness and high places, I knew
that I could always call on the name of Jesus
and I could bind those saints, I could rebuke those things,
I can cast those things out those things don't have
to live in me. Yeah, And if they live in me,
they living me by my choice. And then even when
I think about black queer liberation theology, I think about

(52:56):
Reverend doctor Pamela Lightze out of Chica. We published a
book not too long ago around black queer woman in theology,
and she's just really doing some great work around that.
And then I would say, we've talked a lot about
what we miss from kind of like that early two
thousands time of what it meant to be black and gay.

(53:18):
But if you look back at that time and you
would say, what are you glad is gone? What are
you glad that doesn't happen anymore?

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Hmm, that's a really great question. I think the only
way I can answer that, and this can be a
good or a bad thing. There was only a handful
of us, and I think now the voices are greater,
and that can be a good or bad thing, depending
on who the content creator is now. But I think

(53:54):
people now have permission to show up in these spaces
as their authentic selves because of the people who came
before them, who kind of laid the foundation for them
to be able to show up in these online spaces
and represent their authentic self. And like I give credit
to Elin Harris and Essex and Marlon Riggs and the

(54:17):
folks who came before me. I hope that the block
exposion of the early two thousands gave the people who
are making content now and who are still writing about
how black pureer issues permission to soar. You know, hopefully
we walked so they could run, so they could fly,

(54:37):
That is my hope. So yeah, I hope that answered
your question.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
It did. And like, even as we're coming out of
that religion conversation, I think about Terrell, right, so like
Torell Gris Terrell show. Yeah, and how even with what
we just said about the Clock Sisters, the Clock Systems
have been on his show.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
They have and I was shocked as see them.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Because there was a time that that would not have happened. Yeah,
for a gospel artist, that would have been considered Korea suicide.
But you know, because of the groundwork of individuals like yourself,
Terrell can kind of exist as like this clearly black,
clearly queer, but also clearly churchy, creative, and he can

(55:23):
get the Clark Sisters, he can get Kieri, he can
get Jonathan McReynolds. He can get Tammelin Man, he can
get the CARDI Court to and he can get kind
of like all these individuals. And even though there's been
deeper conversations of like, well does he challenge or you know,
these people come on his show, but then they'll still
go and they'll say this, that and the third about

(55:46):
LGBTQ people. But still I think that power far he
has been able to push it has been incredibly important.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
You know, it's a miracle. It's a small miracle that
I was able to leave my Kojak experience and still
pursue a relationship with Christ. It was violently homophobic, and
I'm just speaking for my own personal experience. I went
to one of the largest Kojak churches in Los Angeles.
I'm not going to name the church, but it's known

(56:17):
as a black celebrity church. Everybody it's all right, yeah,
those who know no, So everyone that's black and Kojak
and la they show up at that church at some point.
And I also love the fact that there are affirming
churches sprouting up everywhere. We're almost everywhere, because I know
they're not accessible in small rural towns, but in Atlanta.

(56:41):
We're fortunate to have a thriving Black LGBTQ community and
a thriving Black Christian affirming community here in Atlanta. And
black for folks have always been a part of the
Black church. We've always been a part of the gospel industry.
And I love the fact that more people like be Slaved,
for example, are able to embrace who they are publicly

(57:03):
and challenge the homophobia that exists in the Black church.
Folks like Bishop vet Flunder, who absolutely adore and I've
had an opportunity to interview, is challenging that homophobia. And
she is a daughter of the Kolchin Church, you know,
born and bred in the KOLJC Church, saying with Walter
Hawkins in the family. So we are not sitting.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
One of the most iconic songs within the Hawkins family,
thank you Cattle, thank you Lord.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Yeah. So not all black queer folks are choosing to
stay in these churches Sunday after Sunday and be spiritually abused.
We are creating our own affirming spaces and I love
that for us, I really do.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
And then even if you're talking about it, Atlanta, I
think you do have to acknowledge Bishop oce Allen, the
Third absolutely and the Vision Church and United Progressive Pentecostal Church.
But then kind of like on the other side, and
like even from me as someone who is a member
of a traditional Black Baptist church here in DC that

(58:05):
has made the moves to be LGBTQ affirmat so like
I'm a member of Alfred Street here and out in DC,
so Reverend Doctor al John Wesley is my pastor. So
kind of like within that tradition, how you don't kind
of like have you don't just have like a Unity
Fellowship or Bishop o c Allen or like the Fellowship
of Firman Ministry Church, but you could also have the

(58:28):
historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where Senator Reverend Doctor Rafael Warnock's pastor,
and that can also be kind of like an Affirman Church.
I also think that that matters as well. Absolutely, So
like the last question within this section before we go
into our rapid fire, because it's been such a rich conversation.

(58:49):
It is already ten minutes past eight my time, and
I know I had already I told you that I
was only gonna keep you till nine. But the last
kind of question I want to have and it's a
two parter. Okay, words of advice for emerging Black gay
creators and then do you feel that there are some

(59:11):
black LGBTQ stories that still aren't being told?

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Words of advice was your first? Was the first one
of that question. I would say, read, study, know the
folks who came before you, who laid the foundation for
you to be able to stand in your truth. And
I would also say that your voice, your story matters.
I tell people this all the time, there are no

(59:40):
small stories. I would encourage you to just start, whether
that be a substat whether that be a Facebook post
or a tweet, representation matters. And we say it so
much that it sounds cliche at this point, but you
have to start somewhere. I started with the blog. I

(01:00:00):
had no idea where that blog would take me, but
I knew that there was a void that needed to
be feel that black queer folks were not being represented
in mainstream media or even LGBTQ media at that time,
and so I took it upon myself to do the work.
And from that small step, it has taken me to

(01:00:23):
where I am now creating stories about our community on
a national platform. So I would say, please just start somewhere.
Your voice matters, what you have to say matters, and
somebody out there will resonate with what you have to say.
You will find an audience. And what was the second
part of your question?

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Do you feel even with the representation that we have now,
do you feel like there are still like black LGBTQ
stories that aren't being told.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
You know what, Believe it or not. I do not see
enough stories of black queer men loving other black queremen.
And I'm a champion of black LGBTQ love. I uplifted
every artunity that I get on my blog. Back in
the day, I had a whole series that I call
Coupled Up where I just featured black quare couples. So
often in mainstream media when you see us, you don't

(01:01:11):
see us loving folks who look like us. It's always
an other. And that's fine, but there needs to be
some balance, and there hasn't been any balance for a
really long time. And that's why it shows like Noah's
art and Poe's are so important because it sends a
message that we do, in fact love each other. And

(01:01:32):
so I'm always a proponent of showcasing black qure love,
and I want to see more of that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Not only do you not see black men loving other
black men, but when you I still feel like it's
too often that when you see black gay men, you
don't see them rooted within the black community, or if
they're rooted in the black community, they're still dl and
struggling with their sexuality. Is why I appreciate and I

(01:02:01):
love Uncle Cliff on Pea Valley so much because Uncle
Cliff is like this black queer, gender non conforming individual
that is still very much so rooted within their black
Southern community. Okay, well, this has been such a rich word.

(01:02:25):
Give us one moment and we're going to get into
our rapid fire benediction. Okay, we are back, folks, and

(01:02:54):
I once again I want to thank you all so
much for joining us for another episode of Hell of Black.
Hello Christian, I am Joseph Fries, and I have been
here for this episode with a mentor from a far
someone that I've looked up to on one Darien Aaron,
and We're just going to do a rapid fire. So

(01:03:14):
I'm going to ask the questions and whatever comes to
mind is what we're going to answer, So, of course, Darien,
as a guest, you'll go first and I'll respond with
whatever I have. What are you looking forward to?

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
What am I looking forward to in the immediate future.
I'm working on an HBCU tour. It's called Generation Z,
an HIV Human Issue Southern Solution, and the tour is
really an opportunity to close the HIV knowledge gap between
gen Z college students. So we're going to be kicking
that off this fall, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
I'm looking forward to the end of this year. I'm
twelve days away from forty, so I'm looking forward to that.
And then I'm in DC and I'm at the part
of summer where I'm looking forward to fall. What is
one thing you like about yourself?

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Oh? One thing that I like about myself I love
that I'm not afraid to step out on faith and
take chances. Young Darien was absolutely fearless. The older I get,
I have to admit that I'm a bit more measured
in my decision making. I think you have to be
as you get older and you start to acquire things,
and now I'm responsible for another human being who is

(01:04:29):
my husband. But my fearlessness took me from a small
town in Alabama to New York City, to Las Vegas,
to Los Angeles and now in Atlanta for the past
twenty years and around the world. I've had several careers
since I left my parents home, and it was because
I was unafraid to step out on faith and see

(01:04:53):
what life has to offer.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Much like you, I like the fact that I'm not
afraid to swim upstream. Where are you a year from today?

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Where am I a year from today? Well, I know
I'm still going to be in Atlanta. I just do
not see myself living anywhere else. I've lived out of
my suitcase for so long. Atlanta is home. I absolutely
love it here, but I would love to be building
our dream home with my husband this time next year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
This year from a year from today. I'm hoping to
come back from essence Fest twenty twenty six after having
some conversations with stakeholders and decision makers within essence Fest,
after a weekend where Hella Black, Hello, Queer, Hello Christian
had a booth at essence Fest, and where I was
able to speak on a palet at.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Essence Fest, claim it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
What are you thankful for?

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Oh? So much? I'm thankful for life. I'm thankful for
a chance every day to get up and get it
right or make mistakes, pick myself up and start over again.
I'm thankful for my family, my small circle of close friends,
and I'm really really thankful for my husband, who is
my best friend. Yeah, all of the above.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
In this heat wave, I am thankful for air conditioning
networks because this time last year, me and my housemates
did not have that experience. What are you proud of?

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
I'm proud of the fact that there is not a
single thing or single decision that I've made in my
life that I'm ashamed of. If I'm gonna be ashamed
of something, I don't do it. And so I wouldn't
take nothing for my journey now as it's saying goes
and yeah, there's been highs and lows, but I wouldn't

(01:06:43):
go back and change anything because it's made me who
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
I am proud of how I am implementing lessons from
past seasons in my life during this current season in
my life. What is a thorn for you? What is
something that's really burning your toes right now?

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Ooh a thorn for me? Oh? Yeah, I had to
think about it for a hot second. But besides the
Trump administration, a thorn for me would be how our
trans brothers and sisters are being used as political scapegoats.

(01:07:23):
They're being demonized, their humanity is not being acknowledged. And
the truth thorn for me is seeing how other black
queerre men treat our trans brothers and sisters, and the
discussions of dropping the tea from the acronym. Trans folks
have always been on the front lines fighting for our
rights when closeted gay men refuse to do so, and

(01:07:45):
so no, we will not leave the tea behind. And
so that really is a thorn in my side to
see how the most marginalized in our community continues to
be denegrated.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
And then your response brought up something that I wanted
to mentioned when I say what stories do, I think
we're still too scared to tell because w'en seeing it
happen in like porn spaces and like only fan creative spaces.
But I would really like to see it moving to
the mainstream, like the romantic sexual relationships that CIS black

(01:08:22):
gay men have with CIS black transmit And then also
something that is a thorn for me this Diddy verdict
is a thorn. And the way that too many black
gay men are willing to make this a joke is

(01:08:46):
a thorn. And to where you have too many black
gay promoters of sex parties that have been willing to
call their events freak offs during this moment is a
thorn for me. Wow, because it's not funny, it's not
a joke. It's not about people being freaky, it's about
people being predators. What gives you joy?

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
What gives me joy? Traveling, laying on the couch watching Netflix,
Amazon Prime, My husband and I just watch Mister lover Man,
which is a British black queer series. It's a little
things like that at this point, just having moments of
downtime and being able to rest because I'm constantly on

(01:09:32):
the go. I'm constantly moving and working on the next story,
and so in those moments where I just get to rest,
that's also productivity for me at this point, and I
live forward.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Yeah, I will say the amount of time freedom that
I have gives me joy. The way that I can
ease until my morning gives me joy. What gives you hope?

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
What gives me hope? Seeing that despite it all despite
the current political climate that we're living through, that people
are pushing back. They are not willing to become roadkilled
for this administration. Black queer folks, black queer and trans
people are raising their voices in the digital space they're

(01:10:19):
organizing that has not changed, and so that brings me joy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Yeah, I say this resistance gives me joy, but also
being in community at in person events is also something
that gives me hope and refuse me because in this
COVID moment, we got away from that. And I love
the way that we're learning to use virtual technology to
open things up to people, but there's still something about

(01:10:46):
being able to be in a room with other people
face to face and share conversation. Okay, so that is
rapid fire. And we have now come to the end
of the benediction. So Darien, I'm getting ready to let
you go, and I once again want to thank you
so much for joining today. I really appreciate it and
it's really been a great conversation for me. But before

(01:11:08):
we let you go, let people know how they can
find you. And then too, even though you won't be
here for this segment unless you want to be, We're
going to do clothing prayer, and I will say, is
there anything we can pray for you for?

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
Yeah, it's a tough time for journalists right now. Our
industry has not been kind. My colleagues are experiencing layoffs
across the industry. So really not so much a prayer
for me. I pray that I don't experience that anytime soon.
Pray for journalists in general. Pray that trust is restored

(01:11:45):
between the American public and journalists, because our current president
has done his part to really disrupt the trust between
the American public and journalists who are really here to
provide critical information. Oh, that's top of mind for me.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
And then Darien, where can people find you?

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
You can find me on all platforms at Darien out Loud.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Okay, So, Darien, I want to thank you so much
for joining us today. We're gonna let you go, but audience,
you all stay tuned because once we come back from
these messages, we're just gonna close out with a word
of prayer.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Thank you so much, Joseph. It was a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
So once again, thank you oh so much for joining
another episode of Hello Black, Hello Queer, Hello Christian. Thank
you so much to my guests, Darien Aaron to make
sure that you follow them and support them on their socials.
And before we go, I do want to make sure
we close out in a word of prayer, and remember

(01:12:50):
that you can send your prayer requests to Joseph Rees
at iHeartMedia dot com or you can find me on
Instagram or x at Joseph for they. Then let's go
to God in prayer. Dear God, we love you, Dear Jesus,
we love you, precious and wonderful Holy Spirit. We love you,

(01:13:12):
and Dear God, we thank you for bringing us to
this point. We thank you for bringing us to the
end of another episode. We thank you for this time together.
We thank you for this community that we're building. God,
thank you for Darien Aaron joining us tonight. Thank you
for his life, his work, his ministry. Thank you for

(01:13:32):
how he pushes the needle forward in our favor. And
thank you for how he blessed us tonight with his
wisdom and with his joy. And we definitely do join
Darien in praying for journalists, praying for creatives, praying for podcasters,
Praying for those that work in the nonprofit sector who

(01:13:55):
are daring to speak truth in this era in time,
and in this country where truth is not being valued,
Protect them, be a hedge around them in the hold
that they do. God give us peace, give us joy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
All this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:16):
We pray in your sweet and precious name, Jesus, because Jesus,
your name means so much to us. In the name
of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen, Amen and Amen. So
once again, that is another episode of Hella Black, Hello Queer,
Hello Christian. We are a podcast under iHeartMedia on the
Outspoken Slate which seeks to amplify LGBTQ plus voices in media.

(01:14:42):
Be sure to like, be sure to comment, rate us
five stars, Subscribe, Share, tell a friend to tell a friend,
to tell a friend to tell a friend. So until
next time, no that I love you very very, very
very much. I look forward to seeing you for another episode,

(01:15:02):
Same black time, same black channel. Have a good one.
Hella Black, Hello Queer, Hello Christian is a production of
iHeartMedia on the Outspoken Slate, which seeks to amplify LGBTQ
voices in podcasting. I am your host and executive creative

(01:15:23):
producer Joseph Frees, along with Gabrielle Collins, who also serves
as executive producer. Dylan you Are is a producer. Trevor
is our lead producer and editor.

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